Mar 17, 2018 01:10
6 yrs ago
Spanish term
hacer lo que digan sus pistolas
Spanish to English
Other
Government / Politics
Current events
I encountered this phrase in an op-ed piece in a Mexican newspaper. The piece is about NAFTA, the re-negotiation process that is going on, & how people think about NAFTA & markets in general, both in the U.S. & in Mexico. Here's the phrase in context:
"Trump está decidido a ***hacer lo que digan sus pistolas***, y como le gustan las guerras comerciales, y dice que es fácil ganarlas, parece estar atrincherado, listo para que sus pistolas atruenen y, tal vez, reviente de una buena vez el peor tratado que Estados Unidos (EU) ha firmado en su historia, que así ha llamado al TLCAN."
I think maybe it means to stick to his guns, but I've been unable to confirm or disconfirm this.
Has anyone else run across this phrase? Any insight would be very much appreciated - thanks in advance.
"Trump está decidido a ***hacer lo que digan sus pistolas***, y como le gustan las guerras comerciales, y dice que es fácil ganarlas, parece estar atrincherado, listo para que sus pistolas atruenen y, tal vez, reviente de una buena vez el peor tratado que Estados Unidos (EU) ha firmado en su historia, que así ha llamado al TLCAN."
I think maybe it means to stick to his guns, but I've been unable to confirm or disconfirm this.
Has anyone else run across this phrase? Any insight would be very much appreciated - thanks in advance.
Proposed translations
(English)
References
Refs. | Taña Dalglish |
Proposed translations
+6
41 mins
Selected
to do whatever he likes / do whatever he pleases / go it alone
I don't quite know how to explain this, but it's very clear to me that this is what it means and that it's a variation on the idiom "por sus pistolas", which basically means "on someone's own initiative" or more colloquially, "whatever [the hell] he or she wants".
I suppose it could be stretched to mean "go it alone" or "be his own man" here, or even "thumb his nose at everyone", which is basically what's going on here, i.e., Trump couldn't care less about what anyone else says, he'll do whatever he pleases.
pistola
3 Por sus pistolas (Coloq) Por propia iniciativa o por su cuenta, sin que nadie se lo pida o sin pedir permiso: “Natalia cambió el esquema por sus pistolas”
http://dem.colmex.mx
This is not a direct link, you need to search for "pistola".
I suppose it could be stretched to mean "go it alone" or "be his own man" here, or even "thumb his nose at everyone", which is basically what's going on here, i.e., Trump couldn't care less about what anyone else says, he'll do whatever he pleases.
pistola
3 Por sus pistolas (Coloq) Por propia iniciativa o por su cuenta, sin que nadie se lo pida o sin pedir permiso: “Natalia cambió el esquema por sus pistolas”
http://dem.colmex.mx
This is not a direct link, you need to search for "pistola".
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Andy Watkinson
: The Spain version of this has the decision-making organs in question located at a spot midway between the hips and dangling a bit further down.
46 mins
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Ha ha, thanks, Andy.
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agree |
Muriel Vasconcellos
: Or 'whatever he wants' -- 'want' is a big word for Trump, more like -- well, I won't spell it out.
2 hrs
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Thanks, Muriel, I feel your pain :-)
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agree |
Robert Forstag
: “Shoots from the hip” would seem perfect here.
11 hrs
|
Thanks, Robert, I'll leave it as an option, although I do think it strays from the actual meaning of the phrase.
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agree |
Manuel Aburto
12 hrs
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Thanks, Manuel.
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agree |
Chema Nieto Castañón
: Definitely the pun is not so relevant so as to force a different translation than to do as he likes/pleases, which is the main point of the original expression... Nice trip though! ;)
1 day 23 hrs
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Thanks for all your input, Saltasebes :-)
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agree |
Charles Davis
: I agree with you that the meaning is that of "por sus pistolas". This lexicalised metaphor is being re-semanticised, but we can't reproduce that. I think "shoot from the hip" is the wrong idea; the writer implies that Trump knows what he's doing.
2 days 20 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
32 mins
to let his guns do the talking
This text is steeped in figurative language alluding to guns/pistols and such---in reaction or response to Trump's comments in the context of the recent school shooting in Florida and the ongoing debate on gun rights in the US.
Literally, it's: "He's determined to do whatever his pistols say/tell him," i.e., he'll let his guns do the talking.
Literally, it's: "He's determined to do whatever his pistols say/tell him," i.e., he'll let his guns do the talking.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Robert Carter
: Hi Marcelo. I'm almost 100% certain that this is not the meaning, "pistolas" is figurative.
17 mins
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Exactly, it IS figurative, Robert, hence my mentioning (above) that 'the text is steeped in figurative language.' With 'guerras' (comerciales) and being 'atricherado,' 'to let his guns do the talking' is a common idiom and a valid option in this context.
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agree |
Jessica Noyes
13 hrs
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Thanks Jessica :-)
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1 hr
following his gut instinct
Trump is bent on
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:33:58 GMT)
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in the sense of not worrying about what anybody else might say
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:35:47 GMT)
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this is very figurative, so lots of room for interpretation
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:36:22 GMT)
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maybe "going with his gut"
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:55:17 GMT)
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Trump is bent on going with his gut
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:55:52 GMT)
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I think this catches it
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:18:41 GMT)
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how about "hits from the hip"
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:19:58 GMT)
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in the sense of couldn't give a tinkers suss about what anybody else thinks
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:20:34 GMT)
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cuss
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:22:23 GMT)
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to keep the idea of pistols which normally would go off from the hip
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:33:58 GMT)
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in the sense of not worrying about what anybody else might say
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:35:47 GMT)
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this is very figurative, so lots of room for interpretation
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:36:22 GMT)
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maybe "going with his gut"
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Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:55:17 GMT)
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Trump is bent on going with his gut
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2018-03-17 02:55:52 GMT)
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I think this catches it
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:18:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
how about "hits from the hip"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:19:58 GMT)
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in the sense of couldn't give a tinkers suss about what anybody else thinks
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:20:34 GMT)
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cuss
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-03-17 03:22:23 GMT)
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to keep the idea of pistols which normally would go off from the hip
5 hrs
to shoot it out
-
Reference comments
1 hr
Reference:
Refs.
Tom's context alludes to NAFTA's trouble (Canada and Mexico), and various pronoucements by Trump. I went searching for some English reports. The last link mentions "trade wars are good and easy to win", a part of the original text:
https://www.ft.com/content/17bcd6da-3bdd-11e7-821a-6027b8a20...
Donald Trump has fired the starting gun on renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, with his administration notifying Congress on Thursday that it planned to begin formal talks as soon as August.
https://www.bnn.ca/trade-wars-are-good-and-easy-to-win-trump...
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday trade wars were good and easy to win, striking a defiant tone after global criticism of his plan to slap tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum that triggered a slide in world stock markets.
Actual tweet:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
I am inclined to agree with Robert and his interpretation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/trump-s-s...
President Donald Trump’s latest trade salvo over steel and aluminum landed squarely in the middle of Nafta talks, overshadowing efforts by his own negotiators and those from his biggest export markets to update America’s most important free-trade agreement.
After a day of will-he-or-won’t-he chatter, Trump announced Thursday he intended to slap tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports. Specifics are unclear, including whether some countries may still be exempt, but the implications rippled through the seventh round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City.
https://www.ft.com/content/17bcd6da-3bdd-11e7-821a-6027b8a20...
Donald Trump has fired the starting gun on renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, with his administration notifying Congress on Thursday that it planned to begin formal talks as soon as August.
https://www.bnn.ca/trade-wars-are-good-and-easy-to-win-trump...
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday trade wars were good and easy to win, striking a defiant tone after global criticism of his plan to slap tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum that triggered a slide in world stock markets.
Actual tweet:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
I am inclined to agree with Robert and his interpretation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/trump-s-s...
President Donald Trump’s latest trade salvo over steel and aluminum landed squarely in the middle of Nafta talks, overshadowing efforts by his own negotiators and those from his biggest export markets to update America’s most important free-trade agreement.
After a day of will-he-or-won’t-he chatter, Trump announced Thursday he intended to slap tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports. Specifics are unclear, including whether some countries may still be exempt, but the implications rippled through the seventh round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree |
Robert Carter
: Yes, that's it Taña, the idea conveyed by "por sus pistolas" is that of "defiance". Quite apart from the international community, Trump is defying virtually everyone in his own party with these tariffs.
38 mins
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Thank you Robert.
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agree |
Juan Jacob
: Como dice Robert... "por sus pistolas" es la expresión consagrada. Sentido figurativo: lo que le venga en gana (Con actitud prepotente, claro).
46 mins
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Gracias Juan.
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Discussion
Were it to let room for such metaphorical reading I would fully agree not only with your arguments as for the intended meaning but with your translation itself. As for myself, I have only tried to express in English the nuances of the original expression so as to facilitate a fair translation; I have actually proposed just but aproximaciones de sentido and not actual translations here. As such, yours is a fine aproximación de sentido, and yet I am not so sure it would work in English as it does in Spanish.
Now, if you want to be completely precise you might need to include that nuance -somehow;
"To do as he [violently/bullyingly] pleases"
Even though -as already discussed- for a US president to do as he pleases, no matter what, is quite violent / bullying by itself!
As for the question of force, Trump is of course a bully and is bullying the Mexicans, but he's doing so verbally, and as Robert has just said there's a difference between that and force of arms. "Letting your guns do the talking", in my opinion, would inevitably be taken to refer to the latter. The "shooting" here is metaphorical; it's a matter of imposing his will. He's letting his mouth (and his tweets), not his guns, do the talking. Of course those being bullied are aware that Trump could flatten them if he chose, and that makes a difference, but I don't think the author or anyone else really envisages Trump using military force against Mexico.
If you translate the phrase literally, it reads "do whatever his guns say", which is quite different to "let his guns do the talking", and I repeat, the latter has a completely different meaning to "lo que digan sus pistolas". I don't see how they are even close in any way.
The idea of someone "letting his guns do the talking", just as the phrase "letting your fists do the talking", has more to do with outright violence rather than posturing over trade. Indeed, we might end up at a point where he does let his guns do the talking if diplomacy fails with North Korea, but that bears no relation at all to NAFTA and Mexico-not yet at least-and hopefully it never will.
By the way Tom, oddly, if you Google that phrase, it only turns up 37 actual results, most of them to do with actual warfare or shoot-outs.
Also, just a note about the phrase "listo para que sus pistola atruenen". To my mind, this is a variation on the idiomatic "tronar los chicharrones", i.e., "crack the whip", but substituting "pistolas" for "chicharrones" is a neat twist that anyone familiar with how Mexican "albur" or wordplay works would get immediately.
https://termbank.com/en/spanish-english/tronar los chicharro...
This paragraph follows on from the previous bit about "marear la perdiz". Trump's negotiating tactics are so confusing and exasperating for the Mexican "partridges" that they are at a loss and he can "shoot" them at will.
I just a little while ago decided to do a Bing search for "Let his guns do the talking" & to my great surprise, got almost 23 million hits. I don't think I've ever used the phrase myself, but it seems to be an understandable, not-too-unidiomatic, English equivalent. I'm leaning towards a combo:
"Trump is determined to shoot from the hip, letting his guns do the talking. ..."
I agree that the guns thing is an important component of the Spanish original, & I want as much as possible to keep it in, to the extent possible without mangling the meaning for an English reader.
In my opinion, the idea of an "associative web of terms and expressions" has more to do with poetry than political commentary.
If you read the article, there is absolutely no mention of anything concerning the gun debate, Florida, the NRA, or even GOP funding. The article is an opinion piece specifically on Trump's initiative to start a trade war and and renegotiate NAFTA with Mexico, that's all.
Incidentally, I don't even think this figurative usage is important to the piece overall; the "pistolas" metaphor is only used in this one paragraph, it's not a running theme throughout the article. Personally, I wouldn't bother particularly with trying to force a rendering of this pun in English.
A different thing would be to fit in an existing expression -as shooting from the hip, or as trigger-happy as ormiston suggests. The latter could also be used as an approximation to the original [resolved to keep up with his trigger-happy actions (?)]. As before, the real problem is that you will either need to explicitly convey the two ideas with which the Spanish original plays -breaking thus the rhythm of the text- or else sacrifice the original wordplay and convey just one of them meanings -as Carter initially suggested, as most puns are simply untranslatable.
Or create just a new pun that is somehow close to the original (as with shoot from the hip, trigger-happy, etc.).
The metaphor "por sus pistolas" (like the more vulgar versions "por sus huevos/cojones") in the Spanish is clear, but we don't use that expression in English. I can't see how anyone could interpret "doing whatever their pistols tell them" as meaning "doing whatever they want".
https://www.google.fr/url?q=https://dictionary.cambridge.org...
Although you are right it is a bit weak; improvisation is alright within the context but it misses the nuance of doing whatever he likes.
Maybe sacrificing brevity -and maybe literality- , he is resolved to do whatever he likes [and keep / by] shooting from the hip...
It just occurred to me that "shoot from the hip" might work in terms of word play. Although it's not really the meaning here, the context is that Trump is ultimately reacting to situations without any kind of careful consideration of the consequences (and by implication doing whatever he wants). It's a little tenuous I suppose, but if you want to keep the metaphor...
shoot from the hip
PHRASE
informal
React without careful consideration of one's words or actions.
‘he is shooting from the hip in an act of political desperation’
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shoot_from_the_...
Hacer lo que digan sus pistolas
Guerras comerciales
Estar atrincherado
Listo para que sus pistolas atruenen
Reviente de una buena vez el peor tratado
...
Stronger though than just to stick to his guns, the original conveys both, the idea of hacer lo que le sale de los coj... (to do as he pleases) and that of "to do as his guns tell or force him to do"; to do as his violent guts/guns tell.
Not sure though how to convey both ideas without allowing for just a literal interpretation of guns/pistols here.